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Conjectures of an Eclectic Christian

Doctors fear their private lives and personal beliefs will soon come under increasing scrutiny from regulators, as a Christian GP who prayed with a patient faces a formal hearing claims Martin Beckford, Health Correspondent for The Telegraph. You can read the article in its entirety here:

It seems to me that further intrusion into the private lives (and convictions) of health professionals should be resisted, unless these beliefs negatively impinge on the standard of care offered. That a Christian GP offers to pray with, and for, a patient should only become a disciplinary issue if the patient is made to feel uncomfortable; the case in point appears to be a blatant disregard for the patient’s non-Christian beliefs and it is therefore right that the GP should be censured. If however, the GP felt moved to pray with a fellow Christian, who expressed this conviction of their own volition, then this is a different matter.

As for expressing private convictions in the public domain, then doctors and other public servants need to exercise due care, but again, surely censure should only be countenanced if such convictions impinge on the exercise of an individuals professional duties. We should resist further legislation and/or regulation unless the case for it can be proven beyond doubt; that point has not yet been reached.